re: When we got Saban from Michigan State what stood out about him?

Uhh first of all Emmert hired him Joe Dean was not involved.

Saban was 43-26-1 versus Melvin's 16-13 record (about to be 16-14). Saban had one of top defenses in Big 10 Tucker's Mich St defense is 10th out of 14 in scoring defense in Big 10 and 14th out of 14 in total defense!

Not similiar at all.

Maybe he was sought after by NFL teams but there were no sought after Belichick people at the same. Belichick went to the Patriots same offseason Saban went to LSU. That's to say that Saban is a Belichick guy but that could not have been a big reason for LSU to hire Saban.

The thing I remember being most significant was of course his defense and not that it was just stout but that he was doing things differently that, at the time, was described as "NFL style zone blitz". Also remember that all the offenses in the B1G hated going against his defenses because they were all based on hat-on-hat or gap blocking and you never knew where to send your guys to block.

I also remember lots of discussion about whether he would have the connections to recruit in the south.

To connect these two thoughts... I specifically remember a friend of mine from Monroe saying "if he brings a hard nose innovative defense to LSU he won't have to worry about it, coaches from Minden to Fourchon will come to him". He was speaking to the contrast between Saban's defense and Dinardo/Tepper's defense and how that alone would be THE attraction for high school coaches because that was what the SEC was all about probably without realizing it. So what he was really speaking about is attitude driven by some real changes.

I believe Gil Brandt was tReference

In his interview (vs others) he laid out a 5 year plan on what it would take to build the entire program up which has nothing to do with on field wins. He created the football operations building, the practice facilities, and everything else we know today. He demanded it actually and his attention to detail along with his defensive vision is what Skip fell for. Until then LSU wasn’t a premier destination for talent unless you grew up nearby and just wanted to be here. He made it one of the best programs in the country within 3 years and changed the way we were perceived by the media and high school players.

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At the time I had no idea who he was.

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same here

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What stood out to me was his success in the NFL.

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wasn't real impressed with that because quite often it doesn't transfer, he did good by us though

His Mich St. team beat Ohio St., Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State in the same season.

There has been a lot of historic revisionism about this hire. It was a big deal and great hire at the time for folks who kept up with such things.
There are a lot of posters who claim they never heard of him and he was a nobody. Having read the Rant for years, I believe a large % of our fans our underinformed.
But Saban was considered one of, if not THE hottest young college coach out there.
Most folks knew it was a strong hire.

He was winning with lesser talent at a mid-major school. Same thing with Miles.